Random thoughts on experiences and matters of interest. Hoping to foster a vibrant community of readers and contributors. It's the next iteration of Buzzing Around, which began as a school project.
A sunny greeting to my regular readers. Thanks to you, there have been more than 3,000 views of the blog. I hope most of those are actual readers! A special shout out to you who visited my page from Cambodia, Qatar, Hong Kong and the Netherlands.👋🏼
October is known as the month for Breast Cancer Awareness. While I've been hoping for 3 years to speak to a survivor - and I did this week, the person had reservations about speaking on camera. So, for plan B I'll share an informative presentation by a Barbadian researcher, Juliet Daniel, featured for the Inspiring Future Women in Science International Women's Day event. I recommend it for parents of, and people working in community projects with, girls in particular.
From Barbados to the cutting edge of cancer research: Juliet Daniel at IFWIS 2020 [Source: Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, March 2020]
There is also a young Barbadian male involved in research as well. He is Shawn Hercules and he was featured last year in a production in which Juliet Daniel was also instrumental in its realization. Let's learn about him:
Aggressive forms of breast cancer | Meet Shawn Hercules| Triple negative breast cancer research| [Source: Stem Caribbean Media, October 2019]
In celebration of the survivors, this classic by Lee Ann Womack, I Hope You Dance. #thinkpink.
Lee Ann Womack - I Hope You Dance (Official Video) [Source Lee Ann Womack, October 2009]
What A Year! First let me welcome readers who were in Peru and Cambodia sometime over the last 4 weeks. 👋
As I write this, I note on international news that protests continue in Wisconsin for another police shooting of an African-American man - the subject of my June entry. I write this the day after the news broke of the death of African-American actor, Chadwick Boseman, who gave a really great quote at an Awards ceremony and who is known for his role in the Black Panther. My last blog was written the day before the news of the death of Barbados' longest serving Prime Minister, Professor the Right Honourable Owen Seymour Arthur. So, it is a glimpse of him I will share today.
But first, this partial steel pan rendition by pannist, Samuel Harry, rendering How Great Thou Art (my handiwork 😊).
How Great Thou Art – Samuel Harry, [Jaye Busby 2020]
Tributes for the late Prime Minister came in from the Caribbean and the Commonwealth (of which Barbados is a part) and gave a picture of the man - a Caribbean-focused politician, a hospitable man, a man of the people, a shrewd economist.
This one is given by the Secretary General of the Commonwealth:
Owen Arthur Tribute from the Secretary-General [The Commonwealth July 2020]
HTS News, St. Lucia, shared this tribute by the island's Prime Minister, The Honourable Alan Chastenet:
PM Chastanet Pays Tribute to the Late Owen Arthur [HTS News4orce St.
Lucia July 2020]
Finally, the current Prime Minister of Barbados, the Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, gave this tribute at his state funeral:
Thank you to all who viewed the blog, taking visits to my musings beyond 2,900 🍹. It's not what I would call viral. Still I am grateful for small mercies. So I will continue my shout-outs to those who visit from different countries. This time it's for the visitors from South Africa and Saudi Arabia 👋.
This is the month and today (July 26) is the day of "National Significance" when we remember Barbados' own #BlackLivesMatter movement of 1937, which I highlighted last year to little traction. Obviously it was not a fashionable theme then. After a month of unrest in the USA and solidarity from others around the world, it came to prominence. In Barbados, we still need to have a discussion on race relations since wealth imbalances continue based on race and concomitantly class.
This month though I want to encourage. Illness due to COVID-19 continues to run rampant in many countries of the world. Health services are under pressure to cope with the cases. In Barbados, to date we've had 94 recoveries of 104 cases with 7 deaths - and no new deaths since April. There are currently 7 persons in isolation - including a 10 year old boy, his teen brother and their mother. All current cases are imported cases. To date there is no evidence of "community spread'. We are asked to wear a mask in public spaces and to maintain a distance of at least 3 feet.
The entertainment community over the last few months have done several collaborations to encourage those on the front-line and those who are restricting their movements. I featured one by Edwyn Yearwood in April. Today, I will share a few others:
Beautiful Barbados - a cover of a classic Merrymen hit of a bygone era and a great showcase to invite visitors to Barbados to take up that Welcome Stamp and live here for a year while working away from home 😉:
Beautiful Barbados with Melinda Hughes and friends - Come Back to Beautiful Barbados [TravelMedia.i.e., May 2020]
Then there is the encouraging collab featuring the voices of some of our popular entertainers:
This is Who We Are Final [NCF, June 2020]
If there is still any doubt about the outcome of our fight with this disease, make no mistake:
We Got This - 25 Voices. 14 countries. 1 message [Vibe Barbados, May 2020]
Then to encourage farming we have this anthem - penned by one of my fave Crop Over festival artistes and it's right for the times. If all else fails, we need to feed ourselves:
The Farmer's Anthem - A World of Farmers [NCF, June 2020]
And for final recognition:
Alicia Keyes - Good Job (Robin Hood Relief Performance) [Alicia Keyes, May 2020]
May seems to be a strange month. Last May, I dedicated my blog entry to remember persons I knew who had passed on in the previous months. As May 2020 closes, I find myself having to pay tribute to three women of excellence who all died in the month of May.
They were all retired principals of an alma mater, the secondary school I attended, the St. Michael School. A secondary school is really a combination of junior and senior high school in the USA. We enter at age 12 and leave at age 16 or 18. Our secondary schools prepare us for life after school. Yes, we learn subjects but it is where we make friends for life. Our teachers do not only teach. They counsel. They guide. They discipline. They pass on knowledge about the subjects they teach and life in general. Well, I can say mine did and that's why I begin with this song, dedicated to teachers.
In this Moment [Source: Billy Barker]
The co-ed St. Michael School has a quasi-elitist reputation today since most of the graduates acquitted ourselves well and entered successful careers in the teaching, administration (both public and private sector), nursing, medical and the legal professions. The school was founded in 1928 to fill the need to provide a solid, post-primary school education for girls from working class families whose parents could not afford to pay for them to attend one of the private girls' schools. With only a primary school education, girls had to learn a skill such as dressmaking or find work as maids or shop assistants in grocery or corner shops or become hucksters (vendors). The St. Michael's Girls' School was opened by the vestry to provide girls with an education in the hope of providing opportunities for upward social mobility.
Here's a shot of the St. Michael's "museum":
The uniform when I was at school is the one on the left. 😀
Constance Inniss (1916-1920)
As headmistress, Constance Inniss is credited with instilling the girls in the girls' school with the importance of being independent, self-assured and cultivating the social graces. She taught Spanish, having earned a degree in Spanish, French and Latin from London University. She introduced science subjects, school meals and the Spanish Club. Born in May, she died some days before her 104th birthday.
Dame Olga Patricia Symmonds (1925-2020)
Dame Patricia, as she was more popularly known was headmistress at the school when I attended. She presided over the first cohort of boys. Her tenure as headmistress began in 1976 and ended in 1985. An English teacher, she was known for her poise, articulation and her graciousness. Everything about her exuded old-world charm. She was able to instill in her charges the importance of character and civil conduct in the pursuit of excellence. In 2000 she received the honour of Dame Commander of the British Empire for her contribution to education, civil life and politics.
Dame Patricia Symmonds and Dame Maisie Barker-Welch
Dr. Wendy Griffith-Watson
Dr. Griffith-Watson served as another of the School's English teachers before becoming Head of the English Department and then Deputy Principal. She was Principal (Headmistress) from 1994 to 1996. In 1997 she became Barbados' first female Chief Education Officer serving in that position until 2009. Warm, witty, eloquent, firm, fear and fearless are words used by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley to describe her as she was Minister of Education during the tenure of Dr. Griffith-Watson.
Three outstanding female educators, who all taught at the same school, who all impacted the lives of their charges, mostly for the better. I don't often weep (there is a touching movie now on TV too), but I am weeping now. They raised us up.
Al Josh Groban Children Choir from Africa - You Raise Me Up [Source: Boon Ming Ng]
Hello to readers from Japan, Czechia, Italy and Germany. I am happy to see someone reading the blog from a new country. I am always thrilled to welcome back previous readers from places like Ukraine, Mexico, UAE, Vietnam, UK, India and my Bajan connections. 👋
As I write this, I am watching the demonstrations across America due to the recent death of unarmed African-American, George Floyd, after a white police officer kneeled on his neck during his arrest. He was pronounced dead thereafter. It was recorded and shown on social media sparking outrage everywhere. I have a nephew and my niece has two sons. Two of my undergrad college friends now live in America. One has two young sons. The other has a teenage boy who thankfully will leave for university in Canada in the fall. In 2010 I refused to renew my US VISA as I did not think it was safe to be a person of colour in that country - and Barak Obama was President at the time but I noticed there was growing racist rhetoric from certain segments in the country during his presidency. Since then we had the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Laquon MacDonald, Walter Scott, Castile Philandoand earlier this year the jogger, Ahmaud Arbery and the emergency medical technician, Breonna Taylor.These were the high profile deaths of unarmed persons. Others were armed and killed during their arrest so that's another matter.
This was not my intended topic for today so I will post two entries to make up for the lack of an entry in May!
It amazes me that 50-plus years after the civil unrest of the 1960s, not much has changed in America. I will not comment on the political rhetoric that encourages extreme right wing xenophobia and outright racism.
African-American parents have "the talk" with their children (both boys and girls) to try not to provoke attention from police officers, to be careful where they go, what they wear, how they respond to a police questioning them.
Black Parents Explain How to Talk to the Police | Cut [Source: Cut]
Still, every time something like this happens I get angry and the Floyd videos are just so blatant. I have to be concerned because I have black relatives in America. The extent of the protests is telling. I ask that we uphold both America's young people and its law enforcement in prayer.
This is a favourite song of mine and is so fitting for the times. George Floyd's blood is red. So is that of the four officers. We all bleed the same and we all need to breathe.
Mandisa - We All Bleed the Same ft. Toby Mac, Kirk Franklin [Source: MadisaOfficial]
A warm welcome to my blog readers - in particular the reader(s) from Japan, Chile and India. 👋
Much of the world continues to shelter-in-place. In Barbados, we too are in a lock-down. We can go to the supermarket and the bank on days assigned to us based on the first letter of our last name. We can also go to the pharmacy, keep our medical/dental appointments or such emergencies; we can go to the gas station as needed as well as the corner/village shop or neighbourhood bread shop. The government finally recommended that we wear cloth masks or cover our faces when out in public. It's the creativity of some masks that I will highlight today.
To encourage everyone to wear a mask, the local Roteract Club of Barbados South initiated a #maskedup challenge. I am not famous enough for such a challenge! Still here I am in mine. It is my best selfie to date; readers who do not know me can now see what I look like - well half of my head anyway. 😁
Here I am all #maskedup
This is not my fave mask. The first time I put it on, it was upside-down - yes imagine putting on a mask upside-down! My glasses slid straight off my nose and in grabbing at them I lost a plate of food! 😞 That was my lunch that day. On another occasion I felt like I was suffocating. The third time, I took a colleague's advice and put drops of peppermint oil on it to avoid that suffocating feeling. My eyes and nose flowed like an open tap. So much for that idea. I will see what happens the next time.
Now here are a few local personalities who accepted the #maskedup challenge (you will need to have a Facebook account to view the video link provided) and who clearly had no issues with their masks!
Popular entertainer, Mikey, accepted the challenge.
Soca artiste, Mickey, in action
The multi-talented Zhané Padmore, an entrepreneur, creative director, mental health advocate and dancer also took up the challenge:
Zhané Padmore
Sports journalist, Ann-Marie Burke, is another Barbadian personality who accepted the challenge:
Ann-Marie Burke
So I hope you are masked up when you leave your home. I hope you are practising good hand hygiene. Most importantly, I hope you are safe.
Let us, who are praying people, pray for the healing of those still with the virus and the protection of all frontline workers in those sectors deemed to be critical or essential by our national administrations.
As you are aware, I do not hesitate to showcase local talent, so I am sharing this lovely rendition by another local entertainer - known more for his achievements in the soca arena but who won the local Teen Talent competition with a rendition of "Ben" by Michael Jackson, as a young boy. Here is Barbados' own Edwin Yearwood paying tribute to our frontline workers with a cover of "Bridge Over Troubled Water".
Bridge Over Troubled Water (Cover) by Edwin Yearwood [Source: Edwin Yearwood, April 2020]
Yes, there is much singing talent in Barbados - far more than the few who have graced an international pop stage.
🖐 I want to thank everyone who takes the time to read this blog. To date it was read/visited more than 2,600 times. So I am very pleased.
I want to greet the reader(s) visiting from Vietnam, United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, Greece, Mexico, Sweden, Singapore, Turkey and the British Virgin Islands. We are all in this COVID-19 together, so let us keep praying for the front-line workers and those who have tested positive who have not recovered.
In Barbados our artistes have been lending their voices to the public awareness cause.
Let's begin with the Soca Queen herself Alison Hinds, who remixed one of her regional hits to promote hand-washing:
Proper Hand-washing to Combat COVID-19 – Alison Hinds
[thebgis March 2020]
Then there is the #extempochallenge begun by a former calypso monarch, Ian "IWeb" Webster on Facebook (to view you need to have an FB account as they're not on YouTube so click on the links below) ...
Remember the world-wide craze with toilet paper?Nesha Woodz mentions it 😆:
Here is Antoine Williams, whose comedic acting skills won him acclaim as Brother Daddy in televised skits in the '80s, in character:
Another popular Crop Over soca artiste who accepted the challenge is Natalie "Nathalee" Burke. She is the niece of the late William "Smokey" Burke featured in the February blog:
I mentioned Ishiaka McNeil in my last blog also. Here is his #extempochallenge:
Not everyone participating was an entertainer. Two female doctors also accepted the #extempochallenge. Dr. Dionne Johnson is one of them. I have exhausted my images. Sorry. I had a really cool Super Doc with a 'fro cartoon to represent her.
I hope you were able to hear all of the contributions and that you enjoyed them.
